DENVER — Anthony Carter explained his philosophy on scoring as he slipped on his canary yellow sweater vest.

"Points don't mean nothin' to me," the Nuggets guard and University of Hawai'i alum said. "But I just love getting assists."

Carter did a little scoring and dishing as he helped Denver to a 113-103 win over the Orlando Magic last night. He had 11 assists and tied a career high with 21 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter.

The fact that his previous best game also came against the Magic back in 1999 was merely a coincidence. Carter doesn't get particularly fired up to play Orlando.

"It wasn't about Orlando, just about winning," he said.

After the game, Carter's thoughts turned toward teammate Nene. Earlier in the day, Nene took an indefinite leave of absence from the team to take care of a personal medical issue. The team wouldn't comment further on what was wrong with Nene.

Carter said he couldn't talk about what was wrong, but planned on calling him later.

"I'm very concerned," he said.